Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: Staff line weight and thickness (Read 3016 times) previous topic - next topic

Staff line weight and thickness

Is it now possible to increase the staff line weight and thickness when printing to paper or pdf files.

Re: Staff line weight and thickness

Reply #1 –
No.
Registered user since 1996
 

Re: Staff line weight and thickness

Reply #2 –
Thank you for your prompt and unambiguous response.

Re: Staff line weight and thickness

Reply #3 –
You could try to layer it with a staff that has a slightly offset CueStaff.hmm object (with 100% scaling) and an invisible multi-measure rest of suitable length in it.
An offset of 0.1...0.2 seems to make staff lines thicker for a "Staff Metrics" size of 16pt. There is an example "ThickerStafflines" in the attachment - you can see in the PDF that the staff lines on the top staff are somewhat thicker, and on the second staff "in between".

I printed the PDF on a laser printer, and the "thickened" lines are actually better visible ... so thanks for this question!

With only a single offset CueStaff, the lines become of course a little bit asymmetric. If this is a problem, one can add another layered staff with a CueStaff that is offset in the opposite direction, e.g. with offsets 0.1 and -0.1. See attached example "ThickerStafflinesSymmetric" for this, with a maybe ridiculously thick top staff ...

I put the "thickening staves" into a separate group "Standard-OnlyPr" so that they can easily be hidden during editing; when the score is done, one would make the group visible, set the multi-measure rests' length suitably and then print.

Last, there's a tiny nuisance with this idea: When there are time signatures in the score, one needs separate multi-measure rests for each signature; invisible whole rests do not work, as they are rendered visibly by the CueStaff object ...

H.M.

P.S. Of course, writing a dedicated plugin that would just draw thicker staff lines should be quite easy, and it would avoid the hassle with the layered staves ... maybe someone (I? - not currently ...) finds some time to write it?

Re: Staff line weight and thickness

Reply #4 –
Quote from: brian –
Is it now possible to increase the staff line weight and thickness.
You ask if it is now possible ... This made me ask myself if there was anything new in NWC and that answer is no.

But there is something that is old and generally undocumented.
If you press ALT+Z, a window will pop up entitled: Staff Line Thickness Override (Experimental)
Values of 200 to 500 produce reasonable results.

The value is not stored anywhere.
The change affects the entire instance of NWC.
From notes on the NWC 2.5.2 Beta:
Quote from: NoteWorthy Online –
Beta 4 is now available at the top of this topic. Notable additions:

  • Experimental Alt+Z function for temporarily setting staff line thickness (in microns)
Registered user since 1996

Re: Staff line weight and thickness

Reply #5 –
It looks as if it is still working in version 2.75a.2

Re: Staff line weight and thickness

Reply #6 –
Thanks for digging this out, Rick! 

I notice it also affects the weight of leger lines.  This is a good thing for those of us with bad eyes.

(I  thought growing old would take longer.  Sigh.)